From Cinderella and Snow While to Elsa and Anna from Frozen and Moana, by way of Belle, Mulan and Arial she adores them.

She wants to dress as them, she wants to talk to them, she wants to be in the films.

But am I damaging her by letting her watch some of the older Disney films, with their passive heroines, with the happiness defined by finding a man, with their questionable approaches to consent?

Some of my daughter's Lego figures

Is she being raised with outdated notions of what it means to be a woman or a man?

Despite all my attempts to introduce her to a broad range of films and role models, she is resolutely a Princess fan.

Star Wars? For boys. Superman and Batman? For boys. Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. Boys.

But should I take action to address sexist attitudes and ‘ban’ her from watching some of her favourite films?

Actress Keira Knightley told the Ellen Show in the US that she doesn’t let her daughter watch Cinderella, telling the show how the heroine “waits around for a rich guy to rescue her. Don’t. Rescue yourself! Obviously.”

One of my daughter's many Disney Princess items

She also criticised The Little Mermaid, saying: “I mean, the songs are great, but do not give your voice up for a man.”

While Kristen Bell, who starred in Frozen, told Parents that she asked her children: “Don’t you think that it’s weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? … Because you cannot kiss someone if they’re sleeping!”

I agree with what they say. Absolutely.

Snow White (Image: Disney)

But what is my daughter, who has just started school in reception, taking from the Disney films?

This is a conversation I had with my daughter on Saturday morning, after we played with Disney dolls and Lego figures (I played with Wonder Woman figures)

Are Princesses happy in Disney films?

Yes.

Why are they happy?

Because they’ve got dads. Because they’ve got mums. Their mums are so shiny. There dads are so kind. They kiss the Beast.

What do Princesses like?

They like to have friends. They have pretty dresses. They like shiny things. They like shiny decorations. Some decorations are in their hair. Some silver hair. Some golden hair. Some rainbow hair and they love their mums and dads and sisters.

What are Princesses looking for?

Looking for pirates. Looking for treasure and for babies and for babies to be born.

What about princesses and boys.

They kiss girls

Do boys like Disney films?

Boys like Star Wars. I don’t like Star Wars because I am a girl.

Would you like to be a Princess?

I have Princess dresses. Sophia, Bell, Moana, Rapunzel and Elsa and little Elsa.

Who is your favourite Princess?

Belle [From Beauty and the Beast]. Because she has lovely decorations on her dress.

How would you feel if I said you couldn’t watch Princess films anymore?

I don’t know. Stop talking now.

I do care very deeply what kind of messages my daughter is picking up, how she will define her position in the world as a human being and as a girl and a woman.

I see the way she copies behaviour, lines from films and songs, and how she zeroes in on girls in movies, TV shows and music.

At my parents, she was watching the animated Star Wars series Clone Wars and said it was boring and all boys – until a female character came in and she became interested.

Frozen (Image: Disney)

I took her to see the Disney film Coco, but while she enjoyed it she didn’t connect with it in the same was as she did Moana or Mulan with their strong female characters.

Right from the start, I’ve tried to be as gender neutral as possible – avoiding pink clothing and watching the terms we use at home.

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I’ve also been exasperated by the sexism in children’s clothing – boys all superheroes and cars, girls all fashion, pink and slogans about fashion.

She once said she wanted to play girls football, and I said she wants to play ‘football’.

I would hope that I would bring her up to question.

To see a broad range of films, know a broad range of people, and to see that she doesn’t have to fit into any category herself.

And there is no question that the new Disney films have much better approaches to male and female roles.

My daughter's bedroom door

There is no Prince Charming in Moana (she’s more than capable of standing on her own two feet) and beating heart of Frozen is the relationship between troubled Elsa who struggles to control her magical powers and her loyal, suffering sister Anna who is willing to sacrifice her life for her sister.

But ultimately, of course, I want her real role models to be her parents, her family, her friends, her teachers, the many childminders who have cared for her.

(Image: PUBLICITY PIX)

She is in the world of Cinderella, Ariel, Moana and Elsa for only a little time each day.

The rest of the time is up to her family, her school and her friends to realise she can be anything she wants to be.

So I'm not banning her from watching the old Disney films, but I will be talking to her about them as she continues to grow up.